Floatable, flood resistant building



Aug. 23, 1955 R. w. CARVER FLOATABLE, FLOOD RESISTANT BUILDING 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed NOV. 5, 1952 o 6 J2: chard (Carver INVENTOR.

HTTORNEY- 3, 1955 R. w. CARVER 2,715,756

FLOATABLE, FLOOD RESISTANT BUILDING Filed Nov. 5, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

flickarwi W Carver:

United States Patent FLOATABLE, FLOOD RESISTANT BUILDING Richard William Carver, Cleveland, Ohio Application November 5, 1952, Serial No. 318,874

3 Claims. (Cl. 20-1) This invention relates to the art of building construction, and has for an object the provision of house construction, wherein, should the location be within an area subject to flood conditions, a building constructed in accordance with the present invention will not be inundated or carried away by the flood; but will rise with the flood and as the flood recedes will settle back on its foundation, without any damage being imparted to the building.

A further object is the provision of guiding and anchoring means which enable vertical movement of the building during flood conditions, together with side swing or lateral movement, said means acting to guide the building back to its original position after the flood has passed.

A further object is the provision of means for floating the building.

These and other objects are attained by the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, and illustrated by the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, and in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a house built in accordance with the invention, there being parts broken away to better show the construction.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view through the house shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a portion of the building, the same being shown on a larger scale than the preceding flgure and showing a flood condition wherein the building is shown floating from its foundation, the section being taken on a plane approximately indicated by the line 33 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the foundation, the same being taken on approximately the plane indicated by the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a detail view illustrating the flexible connection portion of the guide posts.

Referring to the drawings by reference characters:

The numeral 1 designates a building which may be of prefabricated construction, the same comprising side walls 2 and a floor3 supported by joists 4, the ends of which rest on the foundation walls 5. The walls 5 are connected with a floor 6 as shown. A box-like structure 7 is seated on the floor 6. The sides 8 of the structure 7 are spaced from the walls 5 to enable free movement of the structure 7 within the foundation. A light metal frame member 9 is secured to the top of the structure 7 and to the joists 4 of the house structure as shown at 10, thus preventing relative movement of the structure 7 and the house structure. Air tanks 11 are positioned in the structure 7, and a separator 12 positioned between the tanks 11 prevents damage to the tanks by movement in the structure 7.

A frame 16 of any desired cross-section is embedded in the foundation wall 5.

Guide posts 17, in the form of rods or pipes, are threaded at 18 to the frames 16, the guide posts 17 extending upwardly through the floor and between the inner and outer parts of the wall 2 as shown.

To provide against breakage of the guide rods 17, should the building sway after being subjected to flood conditions, flexible connections 19 are provided on the guide posts 17. The connections comprise tightly coiled spring sections 20 welded or otherwise secured to the adjacent ends of two parts of the guide posts 17.

From the above description it will be seen that there has been provided a simple and effective construction for preventing damage to a house and its contents in case of a flood.

The above description is to be considered as illustrative and not limitative of the invention, of which modifications can be made without departing from the appended claims.

The invention having been described, what is claimed is:

1. In a device of the class described, a foundation, a building resting on the foundation, and guide posts fixed to the foundation and extending upwardly, said building having inner and outer walls having a space therebetween, said guide posts being telescopically disposed in said space and guides on the building slidable on said posts to permit vertical sliding movement of the building through which the guide posts freely pass.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 further characterised by a floatable device freely mounted on the foundation and secured to the underside of the building, said floatable device raising the building upwardly when floated.

3. The structure of claim 2 further characterized by each of said guide posts having two sections, and flexible means connecting said sections to enable swaying movement of the building.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,088,239 Paine Feb. 24, 1914 2,019,831 Ricardo Nov. 5, 1935 2,189,486 DAmico Feb. 6, 1940 2,225,622 Clapp Dec. 24, 1940 

